Eric Trump has been whining about his wife's song that no one likes. I think he should be focused on other things. The former controller of the Trump Organization revealed that over-valuations of key real estate properties, including Mar-a-Lago and a Trump golf course, were done at the direction of Eric Trump.
The Messenger reports:
Trump Organization executive inflated the value of key pieces of company real estate — including the Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida — as well as a New York golf course after Eric Trump directed him to "leave value as is," testimony in Donald Trump's company's fraud trial revealed Friday.
Jeffrey McConney, the former controller of the Trump Organization, resumed his testimony Friday and responded to questions about years of valuations he recorded for some of the company's most prized real estate.
McConney, who is also a defendant in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, testified about a decade of valuations he did for Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach members-only club that Trump referred to as "the winter White House" during his presidency and has since become his permanent residency.
McConney valued Mar-a-Lago as if it could be sold as a private residence from 2011 to 2021.
But in reality, Trump had entered into a deed with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2002 that gave up his right to "develop the property for any usage other than club usage," according to an exhibit entered by Andrew Amer, a New York attorney general special counsel.
The deed was included in a 2007 appraisal of Mar-a-Lago that McConney said he had reviewed — yet he continued to value the club as if it was a private residence.
It's not just Mar-a-Lago.
McConney also testified about his valuation of Trump's Briarcliff Manor golf club in suburban Westchester County, N.Y.
Amer introduced financial records kept by McConney, which showed the valuation of the club jumped from $25.1 million in 2012 to more than $101 million in 2013.
A commercial real estate broker appraised the property in 2014 and valued it at $43.3 million. Still, McConney testified that he recorded the property's value at the same $101 million mark from 2015 to 2018. McConney further said he did this after a phone call with Eric Trump, who directed him to "leave value as is."
According to the outlet, attorneys for the Trump Organization did not cross-examine McConney. Is Alina Habba one of the attorneys? Good grief. Well, unless they know Eric is guilty.
Trump's evangelical base should tell him what Jesus thought of money changers. He wasn't a fan.
